Novi City Council paves way for Chick-fil-A approval with rezoning vote

Chick-fil-A has taken another step toward getting approval to locate a fast food restaurant in Novi.(Photo: Mike Ellis/Independent Mail)

Chick-fil-A keeps pecking away at the steps to bring its fast food to Novi.

The Novi City council approved, 5-2, the first reading of a rezoning request, necessary for the property where the fast food chain wants to put a restaurant.

That location, 27750 Novi Road, outside of the Twelve Oaks Mall, is where a vacant Denny's Restaurant now sits. That building would be demolished under the new owner's plans.

A preliminary site plan was not presented at the council's May 20 meeting, where traffic issues were raised once again. Chick-fil-A customers would exit the restaurant property onto the ring road surrounding the mall.

"I'm concerned we are being asked to rezone without a site plan available," said Councilwoman Kelly Breen, who was joined by Councilman Andrew Mutch in voting no. "It is a maze on that site; it's difficult to navigate. I see a lot of potential accidents waiting to happen."

Breen noted she had also heard concerns from residents about Chick-fil-A supporting various organizations that have opposed LGBTQ rights, including same sex marriage, and ones that had promoted "conversion therapy." She added, however, that she was not making a decision based on how others felt about those issues, but on traffic flow concerns.

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Novi planners are taking into consideration traffic exiting a proposed Chick Fil A restaurant near Twelve Oaks Mall. All traffic exiting the establishment would be forced on to the mall's ring road, seen at right, and would have to loop around the mall in order return to Novi Road. (Photo: John Heider | hometownlife.com)

Dan Jones, general manager of Twelve Oaks Mall, told the council that his expectation was that Chick-fil-A would work with the mall to mitigate traffic issues.

Mayor Bob Gatt said he had never eaten Chick-fil-A food, but had heard "nothing but good things about them" and felt they would bring "pizzazz' to the city and could help drive business to the mall.

Mayor Pro-tem Dave Staudt said he had heard a lot of conversation among residents regarding potential difficulty in exiting the location and likened it to the Eagles' song, "Hotel California."

Ellen Sully, speaking on behalf of Chick-fil-A, said a traffic study had been done analyzing intersections and additional signage was being considered for high traffic volume times like Christmas.

When Staudt raised concerns about where the semi-truck drivers he saw frequenting other Chick-fil-A restaurants might park, Sully said she had never heard of such a concern and if a problem arose it would be addressed with agreements between owners of the franchise, as well as the mall and the adjacent La-Z-Boy store.

Although Councilwoman Laura Marie Casey voted with the majority in rezoning the property from Regional Center (RC) to Regional Center with a Planned Development 2 Option (PD-2) she said its final approval was not a "slam dunk."

A second reading of the rezoning and a preliminary site plan must still be approved by council, and she requested a specific traffic mitigation plan be worked on with the mall owners and presented prior to the vote.

Contact Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanBromley10.